Teachings of Thomas Huxley 9 



ley at first declined, and then, pressure being 

 brought to bear, consented against his will. 

 This fact is noteworthy considering the jeal- 

 ousies so often found among scientific investi- 

 gators, and it is not reasonable to suppose that 

 human nature then and now was at all differ- 

 ent in this respect. 



So far we have followed in a very hasty 

 fashion the more important steps in Huxley's 

 life from an infancy and childhood of more 

 or less obscuritv till we have found him rising 

 rapidly to a place of authority among scientists 

 of the nineteenth centurv; and, so far as ex- 

 ternal evidence goes, oblivious of his prowess 

 and not at all spoiled by a knowledge of his 

 intellectual superiority and the great good for- 

 tune attendant upon it. The next and major 

 portion of this essay will have to do with his 

 teachings as exemplified in the several lines 

 of thought toward which his activities were 

 directed. 



